Dear Editor,On February 11, when Governor Walker shared his budget repair bill, he stated that asking public employees to pay more for their pension and health care were modest, reasonable changes. But he failed to give you the rest of the story. Governor Walker has expressed that he wants to give school districts and municipalities the flexibility to deal with his upcoming biennial budget. This is why his budget repair bill attacks public unions to the point that they are unlikely to exist for long, should his bill pass the State Legislature.What Governor Walker has alluded to, but has not yet publicly shared, is that he does not plan to uphold the state’s commitment to municipal revenue sharing and 2/3 funding for public schools in his upcoming budget. Cities, towns, villages and school districts will face even larger budget deficits.Public employers will have the ability to cut deeper into employee benefits, which ultimately will mean less take home pay.If this all sounds good, think again. These “contributions” from the employees will be filling holes in budgets, meaning less money in the local economy. Walker’s modest, reasonable changes will have a negative economic impact felt by everyone. It is estimated that the governor’s budget repair bill proposal will cost communities and businesses in Northern Wisconsin millions of dollars and will hurt families of government employees and business owners. Please stand up for your communities, your neighbors and school children! Contact your legislators and urge them to vote “no” on Governor Walker’s budget repair proposal.

This letter came too late to be published in the Feb. 15, 2011, Tomahawk Leader:

Dear business owners of Tomahawk, if you think the ecomomy is improving or it will just around the corner, think again. Governor Walker is proposing a 13% negative change to State Employees paychecks. How will this impact your business? Personally, as a teacher, I am expecting to see about $600 per month disappear from my paycheck. This is money that I will no longer have to spend. Sorry Ace Hardware, Ben Franklin, Radio Shack, Bambino's, Tomahawk Family, Heritage Chevrolet and many others. I won't be a regular anymore. This probably goes for the hundreds of other Tomahawk residents on the State Payroll. I understand that the State is in need or repair but this in no way helps our stagnating economy. If you know a State Employee call Scott Walker, Tom Tiffany or Jim Holperin today and ask if there isn't a better way.

Please join us in Madison for a public hearing on Tuesday, February 15th at 10:00 AM to support Governor Walker’s Budget Repair Bill.

Thousands of other government employees will be attending this hearing, rejecting Governor Walker's plan to have public employees pay their fair share of their health care and pensions to help balance the state budget - despite the fact that public employees earn an average compensation of $76,500 a year.

Gov. Walker's Budget Repair Bill takes important steps to reduce the size of government and balance the budget without raising taxes. It is imperative we attending this hearing and show our support for these reasonable and necessary steps that will help get Wisconsin's fiscal house back in order.

Moreover, as many as 8 Republicans Senators have not committed to the Governor’s plan. Your immediate action is needed for the Governor’s plan to pass the legislature this week. Click here to contact your legislator and tell them to support the Budget Repair Bill.

AFP is also proud to provide transportation for this critical hearing.

As a tax payer, anything that keeps my taxes from going up because those who are working for the public are paying a little more for their insurance and other benefits is ok by me. After all, they are working for me and as an employer I have to watch the bottom line. Being retired I don't have the option to bargin for my income or how much I have to pay for insurance. A little out of your pocket a little more in mine. They seem to forget that everytime they want a raise or better insurance their neighbors are paying the bill.

The National Institutes of Health has just released the results of a $200 million research study completed under a grant to Johns Hopkins.The new study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it.

Remember...this is all about the children. And teachers teach because they LOVE it; they don't do it for the money. Must be nice to just be able to bail on work without any consequences. My thought is protest on your time, not mine. Taxes pay your salary, so during school hours you are on my time, not yours. No jobs are being threatened. Compensation is being lowered, but the jobs are still there. It's called tightening your belt, same as in the private sector. But teachers will still be allowed to teach. That is, unless they call in sick when in fact they are perfectly healthy.

Many residents of our area, like I, are on social security have had no increase in the last 2 years. Yet our property taxes have increased an average of over 10% per year in the last several years. In the last several years many people in the private sector including most union members have taken cuts in wages and benefits and these so called professionals are upset because they have to give a little? Considering that the State of Wisconsin is broke and we have 10% of potential taxpayers unemployed is it wrong to ask the teachers union (WEAC) members to contribute to their own pension and health care benefits. If a teacher who makes $60,000 a year would pay $3,000 towards their own pension and if they paid 12% of a family health care plan with an annual cost $20,000 per year that would be $2400. Now $2400 plus $3000 equals $5400. Divided by 26 pay checks means a $207.69 cut per check. Is that so unreasonable? To me it looks similar to the deductions taken from the average union worker's payroll check in the private sector.

WTF is Nicolet College Instructor Kevin Brown writing about? Making him pay into his own pension and health care doesn't take a nickel out of the local economy. It actually saves the taxpayer money. They, the taxpayer, will have more money to spend at Ace Hardware, Ben Franklin, Radio Shack, Bambino's, Tomahawk Family and even Heritage Chevrolet because they are spending as much to fund Brown's health care and pension benefits. Remember...this is all about the children. And teachers teach because they LOVE it; they don't do it for the money.

Most school teachers may not be losing jobs (yet), but the statement that there won't be layoffs is a lie. My department has been notified of further budget cuts coming so they are preparing for more layoffs. We are state employees.

Also, again, this is only the stopgap budget fix. The real budget will likely include significant cuts to school funding. Walker may not be laying off the teachers, but the schools will be very soon.

In general I understand the need for cost cutting and to a point actually support the benefit changes. The union changes I find pretty dirty and I'm not a union employee.

After listening to the upset parents call in to Nelson's Market Show on WJJQ this morning layoffs should start here in Tomahawk. Many parents said some children apparently were told by their third hour teachers to go do what ever they wanted to do and that class was over. It sounds to me like some in Tomahawk teachers should be looking for new jobs. I also listened to Mr. Swenty call in to the radio station to express his opinion on the school walkout. He said it should be used as a teaching experience. If he's the supervisor at the school it sounds like he is the one who is not doing his job if his staff is dismissing classes to support their political agendas. The School Board should have some answers on this subject or are they just elected to raise our property taxes.

"Remember...this is all about the children. And teachers teach because they LOVE it; they don't do it for the money". That is the big Lie, Kerry.

I would love to see a huge crowd at the next school board meeting demanding some answers and insisting that some heads roll over this fiasco. As far as I am concerned those teaches owe me some money, by repaying me the tax money that they were paid when they were not on the job and doing what they were hired for.

I really hope that every teacher in the state that caused their school to be closed ends up losing their job ! !

The National Institutes of Health has just released the results of a $200 million research study completed under a grant to Johns Hopkins.The new study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it.

Have people seen the news today as some of the "real" budget is beginning to be leaked?

UW-Madison will be split off from the other UW's. Remember that the reason they were merged was because there was so much waste between the different schools. Also, UW-Madison would have to raise tuition 26% to offset the anticipated budget cuts.

Wisconsins schools would be cut by $900 million. Local schools would also have a cap reduction of $500 per student to prevent districts from raising taxes to offset some of the cuts.

Again, the reason for the rush to destroy the unions is so there won't be anyone that can do anything about what's coming next. I'd be willing to bet the other $2.6 Billion in cuts will be even more painful.

Please share this with everyone you can think of who might want to go down to Madison to show our support of our Governor and GOP legislature. I would recommend taking the bus rather than driving down because the city is so full of people you might not find your group and you would be lost in the sea of people since Organizing for America and the DNC people are there now. You will need to let us know if you're going so we don't have more for the bus than we have room for...contact information below. Joyce

From the AOL news, This should apply to all the teachers that walked off the job and went to madison and left their students on the lurch and forced schools to close.

Madison schools go to court to get teachers back The Madison School District has gone to court to get teachers back to work.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports the district late Friday filed for an injunction that would bar teachers from taking part in any more work stoppages such as teacher demonstrations that have closed schools three days this week.Schools have been closed in Madison, Milwaukee and other districts around Wisconsin as teachers call in sick to attend protests at the state Capitol over Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill. Teachers and other state union workers are upset that Walker wants to curtail their collective bargaining rights.

In its filing, the Madison School District characterizes the work stoppage as an illegal strike. Strikes by teachers are prohibited by state law.

The National Institutes of Health has just released the results of a $200 million research study completed under a grant to Johns Hopkins.The new study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it.

First of all I want the community to know that I have great concern and compassion for what our staff members are going through emotionally and professionally right now. This is truly a historical moment for all Wisconsin educators. I understand the complexity and difficulty of the decisions they are all having to make right now.

That said, I am also deeply disappointed that we were unable to keep our schools open today (Friday, Feb. 18). I worked closely with our teachers all through the day and into the evening Thursday to come to a resolution that would maintain a safe learning environment and provide us with the ability to keep our schools operational. Regrettably, we were unable to fill the demand for substitutes for the volume of teachers who called in their absence. When the numbers hit 90 absences with almost half of the positions not filled, I could no longer guarantee a safe learning environment. I also wanted to provide enough time for our families to be notified, so they could make the necessary arrangements for childcare.

I want our community to know that the decisions our teachers have made today were not done without intense reflection on the local, state and national impact of their individual decisions. Each teacher had to make the choice that was right for them. In the end, 60% of our teachers reported to work today or had already verified their absence through the proper reporting and approval process, and 100% of our support staff, custodians, supervisors, secretaries and administration reported to work. Food service employees were excused from work. I fully expect all of our staff to report to work on Monday.

The administration and the Board of Education wishes to express their concern for the hardship that this has caused many of our families. In the coming days, we hope to continue to work with our community and our staff in creating the partnerships, mutual respect and collaboration needed in order to have a high-quality school district.

Today we have put the following procedures in place:

•We will honor the previously scheduled absences that have been in the system all week (medical appointments, family leave, etc).

•We will require a medical slip verifying the call in absences upon return. If we do not have that verification, we will follow our newly adopted policy on disciplinary action and the employee will not be compensated for the missed day of work.

•All after school activities and weekend events will be held, but any coach who has called in sick will not be allowed to coach.

•All staff present today were required to sign in and sign out.

•This day will not be made up by students as we can still meet the statutory requirements for instructional days and over half of our teaching staff and most all of our support staff are working today.

•If there are any additional loss of instructional days due to weather or the continued impact of the response to the governor’s finance repair bill, students and staff days will need to be made up at the end of the year.

We appreciate the many citizens who have called, emailed or posted comments to our MAPS Facebook page on this issue. We will use this feedback to determine our next steps and in helping us to determine how we can move forward.

I've seen a large number of statements that the contributions being requested from state employees simply make them comparable to the private sector. There are some key differences in the systems that makes this a pretty apples to oranges comparison.

Contributions and contribution levels to the WRS system are MANDATORY. Most private companies use systems such as a 401k. These systems are typically configured so a company will match some percentage of an employee's contributions. Two common setups I've seen are 100% match up to the first 3% of pay an employee contributes or 50% match up to the first 6%. Employees are allowed to CHOOSE what percentage they wish to contribute. If money is tight, you can reduce your contribution, etc. Many 401k plans also allow employees to take a loan against the plan. This can be a safety net against major expenses, used for a home purchase, etc. You can even withdraw the money with a tax penalty if something drastic happened (you were laid off for example). The money the business contributes is also yours, you take it with you if you transfer the funds or take a withdrawal.

As a state employee the WRS contribution is predefined and not within employee's control. We MUST have a total contribution of 10.2% (I believe that's the correct amount). The state contributes 5%. Many of the organizations (the UW for example) kick in too (the UW contributes 5% on behalf of the employee). To ensure the solvency of the fund the WRS system added the .2% recently. That can be increased at any time with no employee input. We cannot opt out, choose our contribution level or take a loan against that money. We also can't withdraw it in an emergency. The only way the money can be moved before retirement is if we take a separation benefit (we have to leave state employment) and then, as I understand the rules, we lose the money the state contributed and we still have to pay the same tax penalty.

Basically, what I'm saying is if you face a pay cut, at least you typically have the option of reducing your retirement contributions to help offset that (and lose the employer contributions too). We can't simply say we are going to reduce our contributions to keep from taking a fairly significant pay cut. We also can't take a loan to pay unexpected medical expenses, make a down payment on a house, or cover other major expenses.

Also, this morning " State Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) issued a statement on Saturday saying that he had been told that all state and local public employees, including teachers, have agreed to the financial aspects of Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill." This is not a fight about finances anymore. Every financial concession that Walker wants has been agreed to. This is now a fight for the right of workers to organize. If Walker cannot compromise on this, it means he is doing exactly what the Koch brothers want, destroying unions so that they can make more money at the expense of the middle class in America. They don't have enough money already?

It shows that public employees make less per their private counterparts, even when you include benefits. I think it is admirable of them to be offering to take even further hits to their take-home salaries, which would widen this gap even further. The fact that Walker won't accept the unions offer they made this morning in which they would give in to all of Walker's financial demands is disgusting. It proves that this is a politically motivated act. He wants to fatten the pockets of his rich donors while destroying the middle class.

Ok.. maybe I am just not understanding the problem here, but according to the US Bureau of Labor statistics press release of 21 Jan 2011 (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm), Union membership only accounts for 11.9% of the total workforce in the USA, and is in rapid decline from years past.

I have heard many people lambast this repair bill as 'union busting' and maybe it is. But frankly, so what? Again according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Collective bargaining has created a condition whereby the represented worker is actually more expensive for employers then non-union workers ("In 2010, among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $917, while those who were not represented by unions had median weekly earnings of $717"). If one wants to talk about that represented teachers will not be spending as much in the community due to having to pay a percentage of their retirement and healthcare, I say, ok, well again so what? The amount that one will have to pay in those regards will not make or break a family. All of the American workforce outside of union representation already pay these items out of their checks and frankly I haven't seen a breakdown in society. There seems to be a huge outcry by a very vocal minority in a particular facet in the labor force protesting what we in the majority of the non-represented working public have been doing every day for years. How is it that what is good enough for 88.1% of the working public is anathema to the 11.9%? Doesn't make sense to me.

Unions were of course vital institutions during the developing industrial revolution of the 1800-1900s, but we are no longer that country. It seems to me that Unions no longer exist for the benefits of the membership, but as with any other bureaucracy, exists for the proliferation of the bureaucratic entity and its own power base. Unions have protected the lowest common denominator who wants to exist only by performing to minimum standards. Want to talk pay for performance? Well then don't talk to a union member.

Now, as to the students and teachers leaving class to protest. I do support the right for free speech and expression. Absolutely! It is one of the greatest freedoms as right that we have in this country. However, as with any right, there is a corresponding responsibility attached with the expression of that right. In this case, the students need to accept that they will be counted as truant or tardy and suffer the appropriate penalty for that transgression and teachers walking out of the classroom should be also be held accountable for unexcused absences. Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and other great voices of protest have all suffered incarceration and other penalties of their free speech, and did so in full knowledge that those penalties were a consequence of their actions. So if the students just think they are getting a free day, I would say, think again. I am sure though that they will not be punished as the administrators and teachers were rooting them on and will not follow through with this anyway.

*** The opinions expressed herein are uniquely MY OWN and should not be construed as an endorsement of any sort by my employers or of any professional associations to which I hold membership. I can dig myself into holes just fine without their help, thank you very much***

With all the stuff that's going on in Madison and the protest that took place at the Tomahawk High School last week I did a little research on the web this morning. Here are some of the things I found. According to the US Department of Labor the average full time worker in the US works an average of 260 days per year and works 7.97 hours per day. Men average 8.29 hours and women a little less at 7.53 hours per day according to their statistics. These stats exclude vacation and holiday pay. The same study states average teacher works an average of 5.6 hours per day. According to Wisconsin Department of Education the Schools must provide 180 days of class per year and allows for five days off per year for bad weather days, parent teacher conferences and etc. For a total of 175 days of classroom instruction.

Divide some of those salaries by 980 hours and check out the hourly rates and then add in the $30,000 plus per year in benefits and compare it to your own paycheck. Pity the poor teachers. They should be encouraging student protests and dismissing classes in support of their political agendas.

There has been a obviously been a campaign conducted by WEAC to contact small businesses throughout the state to scare them into believing that if teachers are forced to pay for some of their own benefits the teachers will be to poverty stricken to make purchases at said businesses. Don't believe the WEAC party line, look at those salaries.

Remember...this is all about the children. And teachers teach because they LOVE it; they don't do it for the money.

Did anyone see the governor on FOX Sunday AM? Way to side step questions and put an "I" in governor. Who cares that your brother has lovely children, your sister-in-law works for Sears and they pay $800 per month for insurance. That wasn't the question presented to you. Not of fan of FOX but the commentator didn't let you run with that one.

I`m glad to see you`ve figured Walker out. Too bad the ones that voted for him didn`t see it earlier. But, many will now. He was bad for Milwaukee county, and now he`s bad for the state of Wisconsin. ''

Isn't that union-busting?

WALKER: No, absolutely not. Our belief is that we're going to ask more for health care and more for pension contribution which is, by the way, very realistic.

My brother is a typical middle class family. He's a catering manager for a hotel here in Wisconsin. His wife works for Sears. They've got two beautiful girls. A typical, Wisconsin middle class family.

He told me last week and he reminded me, he said, Scott, hey, I'm paying almost $800 a year -- or a month, excuse me, to pay for my health care and to set aside the little bit I put in terms of my 401(k). He'd love, like most every other worker in the state would love, to have the deal we're putting on the table for our state and local government workers.

WALLACE: But, Governor, I want to talk about the specific things about collective bargaining and saying that unions have to hold elections every year and that's what your critics say is union- busting, not the argument about the money issues.

WALKER: But the two go hand in hand. If we're going to ask our state and local workers who are doing a great job to pay a little bit more, to sacrifice, to help to balance this budget, we should also give them the flexibility saying that for those members, for those workers, who don't want to be a part of the union, if you don't want that deduction each month out of the paycheck, they should be able to get that $500, $600 or in some cases, $1,000 back that they can apply for their health care and their pension contribution.

For us, if you want to have democracy, if you want to have the American way, which is allowing people to have a choice, that's exactly what we're allowing there. People see the value, they see the work, they can continue to vote to certify that union and they can continue to voluntarily have those union dues, and write the check out and give it to the union to make their case, but they shouldn't be forced to be a part of this if that's not what they want to do.

WALLACE: Just really get --

WALKER: And, Chris, one other quick thing on this.

WALLACE: Go ahead.

WALKER: The other thing that's important to remember -- they talk about worker rights. Wisconsin, several generations before collective bargaining was legal here in the state of Wisconsin, we passed at the turn of the last century, the strongest civil service protections in the country. There is no state that has a better civil service system in terms of protections.

That does not change in this. Worker rights will be maintained even after our bill passes.

WALLACE: This gets to a bigger question, and that is whether or not you think there's something structural here, that -- that the way the system has developed over the years, public employees and public employee unions have the upper hand when it comes to negotiation with state or local governments. Do you think that the public worker unions have gotten too powerful?

Was that average number of hours spent in class? I dated a teacher for awhile. She spent hours grading papers at home, writing lessen plans, coming up with ways to help students that needed it, etc. If we had to drive more than 30 minutes somewhere, she was grading. She was at the school early to open the weight room for the students, and stayed until around 5 PM every day. It was actually frowned upon for a teacher to leave before then. She coached a couple of sports and went to things like the plays, etc. to support her students. All on a starting teachers salary (not much money).

Even in my job as a staff member at the UW there is a LARGE disconnect between the number of hours people see me put in at the office and the number of hours I'm actually working. I get email that I respond to 7 days a week. I'm taking care of problems from my computer at home, etc. I've "worked" on Christmas and New Years day, while on vacations, etc. I came from the private sector and trust me, there isn't any less work in my position but there are definitely fewer rewards.

Kerry,Having never dated a teacher I'm not the you are on expert on them. I quoted the Democratic Party controlled US Department of Labor and that Arch Conservative Tea Party Rag...The Milwaukee Journal. I am an expert on paying never ending always increasing property taxes. Are you a WEAC member? It sure reads like you are. As some of your media competition says, "Fair and Balanced."

Most of the professors I had were out on the golf course while some TA or a none English speaking grad student was running their class. Since I was working and supporting a family while attempting to finish school I paid taxes as well as tuition to support their golf game or what ever they did for a living, for it sure wasn't teaching.

Remember...this is all about the children. And teachers teach because they LOVE it; they don't do it for the money"

By the way it's nice to see that Ken can type instead of just throwing up links even if his writings are obviously plagiarised. Liberal independent thought done with a ctrl c.